Paris, France to Brussels, Belgium

We checked out of the hotel and made it to the Metro with all our luggage. Some guy helped me get my suitcase on board, which I thought was nice at the time. (FORESHADOWING!!) Danielle’s train station was the stop before mine, so we hugged goodbye and she went on her way.

When my stop came, that guy from before materialized from out of nowhere. I thought he was just carying on with the Good Samaritan bit, but that is because I am slow to catch on.

He had actually decided to turn stalker, and followed me through my subsequent metro connections all the way into the train station. Since my departure was much later than Danielle’s, I had a little over three hours to kill. When he plopped down on the bench next to me and grinned, I was more than a little creeped out. He wrote down his address and phone number and told me to come over (which was both creepy and bizarre, since clearly I was getting ready to leave on a train) but when he asked if he could take my photograph, I had had enough.

I sprang up and went to the ticket counter and exchanged my ticket for the very next train out of there. They were really nice about it and let me exchange free of charge. I knew Venkat and Anjali weren’t expecting me for another 3 hours, but by this time, I decided I’d rather wait for them in Brussels by myself rather than sit here getting photographed by this weirdo.

So, I make the next train (one leaves every hour for Brussels) and as soon as I land, I call Venkat and Anjali, who luckily were not far away. Boy was I ever glad to see them! They had found a great parking spot on the curb, and we threw my luggage inside, then walked over to the market, where I ate a… well, I forgot what it’s called, but it was surprisingly good, considering it was a naan-like bread filled with feta and honey. (Venkat’s also contained olives.)

We went to their apartment next, which is really nice, with big rooms. Anjali said I could leave my shoes in the hall and I must have made a weird face, because she quickly added, “but you don’t have to.”

“It’s not that,” I was forced to admit. “It’s that I’m wearing the same psychedelic socks I used for my Evil Clown costume last Guavaween and I didn’t want you to see them.”

We snacked on some leftovers (they have the best leftovers in the world. I would eat nothing but leftovers if my leftovers were anything like theirs.) and then set out to walk about town. I saw the Palais de Justice and a WWI/WWII monument. We walked by the atomium, the music conservatory, the Parc du Bruxelles in front of the Royal Palace, and the Eglise Notre Dame du Sablon.

I saw the Museum of Musical instruments, whose building looked so cool that I totally want to go back and explore. The Palais des Congress has a clock tower, which plays a different song every 15 minutes. I saw a lot of Tin-Tin memorabilia and comic books, as well as some for Betty Boop, although I’m not sure why she was so popular.

Brussels is known for more than beer and chocolate (and sprouts)–they are also known for eating fries witih mayo, and mussels in a pot, neither of which I sampled.

I *did* gobble up a waffle, of course, and it was topped with strawberries, bananas, and chocolate. Venkat tells me that’s tourist-style, but all the same, it was delicious.

And, in case you’ve always wondered, Brussels actually has three official city names. Brussel (Flemish), Bruxelles (French), and Brussels (English).

I also felt the golden lady from head to toe, which is supposed to bring good luck. There were a ton of people crowded around the statue, so it must work. I forgot to ask Venkat what the story is behind that, sorry.

I also saw the infamous Mannekin Pis, and Venkat took a classic photo for me. Then we stopped for drinks. Brussels has eating tables and drinking tables. (We sat at drinking tables.) You can tell the difference because drinking tables don’t come with menus. Also–at the drinking tables, at least–you are expected to pay for each round as you go.

Tags: cathedrals, food, museums, trains, travel tips

Paris, France

Everyone from the college program left today, either to go home or to embark on subsequent travels. My plans don’t really unfold until tomorrow when Venkat and Anjali are expecting me. Danielle had a limbo day, too, since her dad and grandmother are driving to Lourdes to meet her tomorrow.

So, we got around and went to the Louvre again.

When we think about ancient civilizations, we tend to think of them as primitive or at least inferior in some way. But I think it’s obvious that they had a much greater appreciation of art than we do today, and consequently, they were surrounded by much more beauty.

Sure, they didn’t have the technology and mass production that we do today, but that only makes my respect for that time period even deeper. All the intricate detail and opulent decoration had to be done by hand. Slowly, carefully, purposefully.

And we are lucky they took the time to do so, so we can still see what architecture/craftsmanship used to mean, now that we live in a time when the most ornate we get is crown moulding.

OK, enough waxing philosophic. Let me tell you more about the Louvre. We started in the oldest section (hence the above rant) and more or less worked our way forward through time. I saw an astrolabe, which was pretty neat, Puget Statues, and the code of hammurabi, which dates back to ancient Babylon and was the first written code of laws.

(We also saw some guy get pickpocketed by a teenager, right in front of the Mona Lisa.)

I saw works by El Greco, Rubens, Goya, Boticelli, Raphael, da Vinci, De La Croix, and–one of my personal favorites–Giuseppe Arcimboldo. If you have no idea who this is, but you live in the state of Florida, bop on over to the Ringling museum, which I believe has several other of his “still lifes”. I “quote” it, because although he typically paints fruit, it always looks like something else. Usually a portrait. And unlike Dalí, who is not above melting or morphing something to achieve an effect (and whom I also like immensely), Arcimboldo’s fruit are really fruit, although you can’t help but see the other image, especially from a distance.

We only stayed a few hours, but Danielle says if you looked at each individual item in the Louvre’s extensive collection for only one second each, it would take three solid months to get through everything. I can’t wait to come back!

We also had a little adventure in the Louvre when we were stopped by a security guard named Lakpar, who thought we were Italian. He discovered we were not, tried to put the moves on us anyway, and finished his speech with a diatribe about how you can’t trust a woman and you better not leave her alone if you have to work late or she’ll be sleeping with your neighbor. (He gave us his phone number, but we did not reciprocate.)

After the Louvre, Danielle and I walked around Paris. We saw the Bastille, which reminded me of Siegessaule in Berlin.

We also went to Invalides and Madeleine before calling it a night. We went out later in search of Wedding Crashers, which we saw advertised all over town, but all we could find was Mr and Mrs Smith (which we decided to pass on) and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. We ended up getting dinner and relaxing on the Champs Elysees.

Tags: museums, random facts & history, travel tips

Versaille, France

I took the Metro to the train station. Here let me briefly describe the Paris Metro system. There are two networks, the numbers and the letters. The alphabet lines are more expensive, and run inter-city. The numeric lines are cheaper, and run intra-city. For some reason, the train station, like the airport, is not “in” city proper, so it took me one of each ticket to get there. (At least it was still in France, seeing how the Cincinnati, OH airport is actually in Kentucky.)

Each Metro stop is not only clearly marked, but also cleverly themed. The stop for the Louvre actually has art in glass cases in the Metro stop. (That would be stolen or spraypainted in about 5 seconds flat in the U.S.)

So, I get to the train station, wander around a bit, and come across the reservations room, where I go to buy my upcoming tickets. I wait in line for the International counter, and when I get there, what do you know–she doesn’t speak a word of English, so I had to explain everything in my pitiful French. She was very patient with me and everything worked out fine until I mentioned Budapest. “Where’s that?” she asks. “Um, Hungary?” I answer cleverly. (I had no idea how to say Hungary in French.) Nope, never heard of it, she says again, and hunts it up in her book. There it is–Budapest, “Hongrie”. “There it is!” I point, excitedly. She shrugs. “I don’t know where Hongrie is. You’ll have to buy that ticket somewhere else.”

Now. First of all, she’s a freaking travel agent for international sales. Secondly, it’s only two countries away, on the same continent. It’s not like I said Mozambique or anything. And lastly, who cares if you can find the place on the map! If it’s in the book, why can’t I get a freaking ticket?!?!

(Unfortunately, my remedial French prevented me from saying a single word of this snappy diatribe, so I smiled, said thanks anyway, and left.)

I hopped on the Metro for Line Yellow C (alphabet=out of city, remember?) and headed for Versaille. It was pretty easy to get there, but the doors to the train opened way before the train actually stopped. I cowered back in horror as people jumped out the doorway anyway, having to hit the ground in a stumble/run so as not to fall face-first to the ground. I was the last person off the train since I (very uncool-ly) waited for it to stop before disembarking. (Years of themeparking has brainwashed me. I cannot exit until the train has come to a full and complete stop.)

Versaille was beautiful, but very expensive. Each room in the palace cost 8-12 Euros to enter, and although there was a day pass I could have purchased, I didn’t, and contented myself with wandering around the outside. The gardens were pay-to-enter, too, although you can walk along the perimeter without a ticket.

The bathrooms, though, were the last straw because they were *also* pay-per-use!

When I left the palace grounds, McDonald’s was a welcome sight for the first time since outgrowing happy meals. No matter where I am in the world, the golden arches only mean one thing to me–public restrooms.

Also, this was the first time I tried to use my cell phone outside of Spain… And calls didn’t go through. I tried Florida, I tried Brussels… nothing.

At this point, it’s safe to say I was less than pleased. The store swore to me it would work in any European country. And sure, it does… if by “work” you mean that the power button turns the screen on.

To save you the suspense, I was only able to use the phone in one other country–Belgium. And that was only for in-country calls to Brussels from Brussels. No, I don’t get it either.

Tags: castles & palaces, technology, trains, travel tips

Paris, France

We began the day with a Paris city tour. Paris was founded by a Celtic tribe, and nowadays has a population of two million within the city limits, 11 million when counting the outskirts. Paris alone is 1/5 of France’s entire population.

Paris has 20 districts. The streets are generally wide avenues lined with trees. There are no big parks in the city, but there are two large parks just outside the city. Like Spain, menu prices are less expensive when seated at the bar than at tables.

At stops for loading/unloading passengers, tour buses kill the engine (and therefore the A/C). This isn’t to torture tourists–this is because there are strict anti-pollution laws, and if they don’t turn off the bus, they will get a ticket.

First I saw a Russian cathedral, then Montmartre which is called the Mount of Martyrs because of the legend of a Paris bishop who was beheaded here by Romans.

Next, I got to see Sacre Coeur, and although I didn’t go inside (I plan to do so later) it is beautiful on the outside.

Nearby, there is a square packed with vendors of all types (and, I’m warned, pickpockets) and their in-you-face hustle reminded me of Morocco. (Luckily, this was the only place in Paris that struck me this way.)

Paris is seperated by the river Seine and the people on each side are distinct, with their own different customs. We went down Rue de la Paix, an expensive strip, and Rue Saint Honore, and saw a statue of Napoleon. We also saw the Latin Quarter, and the Roman baths, which have pools of different temperatures (really hot, warm, and ice cold. M. Saint Michel, if you’re interested.)

I learned that the Louvre was a fortress in the 12th century, and that Notre Dame is the center of the city. This is also where Napoleon crowned himself emporer in 1804. I also learned that Notre Dame used to be colorful, with bright blues and reds. It would have been neat to see it in its original condition.

Place de la Concorde is the square where in 1793, Marie Antoinette was beheaded. At the time, it was known as Revolution Square.

We went by a 3000 year old Egyptian tower, then Invalides, then went to the Arc de Triomphe (me, for the second time). This is the biggest arc in the world. This area is also known as Star Square, because the streets intersect like an asterisk, with the Arc de Triomphe on a roundabout in the center. One of the friezes is of Napoleon dressed in Roman gear. In the middle of the arc lies the tomb of the unknown soldier from WWI, with its eternal flame.

Next we got to see the Eiffel tower. It was built out of iron in 1889 and at the time was the biggest monument in the world. People who lived nearby began moving away because they were afraid it would topple over.

The girls and I sat on a bench with a view of the tower and noshed on some crepes. It was the first surreal moment I’ve had since I left the U.S. Just standing in the sunlight, warm chocolate crepe in my hand, Eiffel tower towering in front of me. Sunlight for a moment, anyway–then the sky opened up and the rain came. Apparently, it’s not unusual for Paris to rain every afternoon.

That night, we dressed up and went back on the town for a night tour, to be followed by an evening performance of the Moulin Rouge cabaret.

We saw the statue of Napoleon as Caesar, and the square with the Ritz, next to the Ministry of Justice. We went by Cartier (a place to window shop for jewels) and the Paris Opera House, built in 1860. We went by the Louvre, whose modern art glass pyramid structure is comprised of 85 tons of steel. An interesting fact: the surface area of the Louvre is greater than that of the Vatican.

We went by Le Port Neuf (The New Bridge) which, in fact, is actually the old bridge–the oldest one in Paris. It used to be said that the bridge was so crowded, that on any given crossing, you were bound to run into a monk, a white horse, and a loose woman.

We went by the contemporary arts building, city hall, the Institut de France, the Latin Quarter, and of course Notre Dame. (No, not the one in South Bend, IN. The one from the 12th century, with the rose windows and bell tower.)

Next we hit the Place de la Concorde, which is one of the largest squares in the world. Its fountains were inspired by those in St. Peter’s square in Rome.

Then we rolled down Champs Elysees, which was the product of Louis XIV’s designer, who also created the gardens at Versailles. Here you’ll find the Grande Palais and the Petite Palais, as well as the oldest Metro station. The Paris Metro was begun on October 4, 1898 (two days after my birthday… if I were 107 years old. Which I’m not.) The Paris Metro runs three times the circumference of the Earth, every single day.

Champs Elysees is also the street with Fouquets, the oldest restaurant in Paris, where movie stars are often seen (and the menu prices prove it). We passed the Arc de Triomphe again, and I was amused to find out it exists out of luck–Napoleon had originally wanted to build a giant elephant instead. (And if Parisians could talk Napoleon Bonaparte out of an elephant, why oh why could no one talk George Lucas out of Jar Jar Binks???) The Arc de Triomphe was inaugerated on July 29, 1836–30 years after construction began. Napoleon was buried nearby in Les Invalides, also near the Church of Glory. (Magdalene/Madeleine)

The Eiffel Tower was created much like a giant puzzle, and the last piece clicked into place on February 24, 1889, and not to rave reviews. Besides the fact that everyone was sure it would collapse on their houses at the slightest provocation, it was also higher than Notre Dame, which made it unclerical as well.

Moulin Rouge. How can I describe it? The best I can do is this: The Moulin Rouge is Broadway meets Cirque du Soleil. But topless.

An overabundance of champagne was served at every table, the costumes were amazing, acts included strong-man type acrobatics and awoman diving into a tank with a boa constrictor, and dancing–of course!–included the famous French can-can.

Tags: cathedrals, food, museums, random facts & history, shopping, theatre & shows, travel tips

Madrid, Spain to Paris, France

I woke up, did my last load of laundry for a while, packed my bags, and boarded the bus for the airport. At the airport, my bags were too heavy, so I had to pay a fee, but what do you do when you’ve got all your stuff with you and you’re on your way to Paris.

Our flight took off about 40 minutes late, so we arrived a good half hour after planned. We picked up our luggage and bussed to our hotel: Novotel in La Defense, the very last stop on metro line yellow one, and (we were to learn later) technically not within Paris proper.

The first adventure of the day was discovering that I had someone I didn’t know for a roomate, and that the hotel rooms had a single king size bed, so we would be sharing.

I found Alison, and we were starving since the airline didn’t serve vegetarian meals, so we headed out to find some grub.

We took the Metro, and ended up next to a mother and her daughter. The little girl asked us, “Are you Americans?” and before we could answer, the mother said, “Isn’t it obvious?” (!!!)

Ali and I got off the Metro at the CDG exit (not the airport, but the exit) and when we walked up the stairs to street level, we were instantly rewarded with a view of the Arc de Triomphe. We walked around looking for a cafe, and we ran into Bryan, Paula, and Lindsay. (Weird how I keep running into people I know in such large cities. I *never* randomly run into people I know back in Tampa!)

We found a cafe and ordered some food and some water. We downed the first carafe in no time, and I taught Alison how to say “more water, please” so she could ask for it when the waiter returned. (She cracked me up by repeating it over and over.)

Once we sated our hunger a bit (I got salad and 4 fresh cheeses, none of which I recognized, all of which were good) we explored the Arc de Triomphe and had fun trying to find the perfect spot for a photograph.

All this photography worked up an appetite (yes, *again*) and we realized what we REALLY needed were some crepes. We found outdoor seating at a cafe on Champs Elysees and ordered up the most delicious crepes I’ve ever had. They were topped with ice cream and chocolate syrup! (Probably Nutella–Paris is huge on Nutella.)

Something funny: there are lots of ads in the metro stops for McDonald’s, but here it’s called McDo.

Tags: airplanes, airports, food

Madrid, Spain

Today was finals. The art class was slide recognition, which wasn’t too terrible, although the professor did throw in a few sneaky ones, like slides that he never showed in class. It was of a place we did visit, yes, but in the daylight and from the ground level, not from a night-time aerial perspective like the slide. (Tricksy he is.)

I later zipped over to the Corte Ingles to get the receipt form for Customs–not sure how that whole tax-back thing works yet, but it seems like something to investigate.

That evening, we got dressed up and went to Casa Botín, the oldest restaurant in the world. (Also in the Guinness Book of World Records). We had a couple pitchers of Sangria, really tasty meals, and then we each ordered a different dessert off the menu, so that we could pass them around counter-clockwise and try everything. I’m glad we did–the desserts were awesome!

Tags: food, random facts & history, travel tips

Madrid, Spain

I made it back to Madrid’s Atocha train station, caught the bus to the Metro and the Metro to the campus and raced into class without a minute to spare. Today was the final lecture, followed by the review for the final. Not knowing what the week in Paris would bring, I spent most of the day working.

Tags: road trip

Lisbon, Portugal

Lisbon, Portugal! First of all, Portugal is one hour earlier than Spain because for some reason, it is on UK time. Also, Portuguese is more unlike Spanish than I had suspected. For example, “thank you” is “obrigada”, which in no way resembles “gracias.” (And if you’re a man, “obrigado”.) I also saw a sign with “chocolate” spelled with an X instead of the “ch”. (?!?!?!)

The first thing I noted when I landed at the train station was that I had to pay to use the bathroom. (I would soon learn that outside of Spain, this is actually the norm. Carry change.)

The area around the train station is a little sketchy, and at first I thought I had made a Bad Mistake. Everything seemed dirty and trashy, with lots of graffiti and bums, some of which were sleeping in actual broken cardboard boxes.

However, as I kept walking, the neighborhoods kept improving. The walk was very pretty, with the river/port to my left and the city to my right. I passed a US Coast Guard pirate ship thing – no idea what that was about.

The woman on the train had told me to never start out speaking Spanish to the Portuguese. She said that they have some sort of inferiority complex with the Spaniards and if they meet someone from Spain, they will assume that person is going to snub them or insult them, so the Portuguese are likely to put on their attitude first, kind of as a defense mechanism.

So, she said to first ask if they speak English, and when they say no, *then* ask about Spanish. So, that’s what I did, and everywhere I went I spoke Spanish – but as the “second choice”.

So I’m in the center of town, which is a square with the river to one side and a statue in the center. It’s called the Praça do Comércio, “praça” being Portuguese for “plaza”. (Very frequently “r” was where I expected “l” and “ç” where I expected “z”. “Ç” is not even a letter in Spanish.)

I go to get on the trolley and the lady says “two”, which I took to mean two Euros so I forked over a 5, and she just gave me some loose change in return. Apparently, she was asking if I were paying for two *people*, and by smiling and nodding, I inadvertently bought the way of the guy behind me. So, if you don’t speak the language, don’t smile. Or nod. Very expensive habit.

The trolley was a crazy trolley (much like the crazy taxi, if you’re familiar with arcade games) and if I hadn’t held on with both hands, I wouldn’t still be here now. (Why don’t we have opposable toes?)

The first thing I did (once I got off the trolley and kissed the ground beneath my feet) was to visit the Monasterio de Geronimo. It happened to be free on Sunday, which was cool, and it was the 500th anniversary, which was even cooler. Apparently, people were allowed to touch all over everything and use flash photography, neither of which I felt was cool, so I abstained from both, keeping my hands and flashbulbs to myself.

I loved how gothic it was – it was the most gothicky monastery I’d ever been in, and it is awesome. (Not that I’d been in any monasteries prior to this trip – the most goth you’ll find in the US is Marilyn Manson.)

Next, I ate at the Pastéis de Belém. Mmm. I don’t know why I’m not still there, getting fatter and fatter. Run, don’t walk, to the nearest airport, fly to Lisbon, go to the original 1800’s blue-tiled Pastéis de Belém restaurant, order yourself a cappuccino and as many pastéis as the table can hold. This is now officially my favorite food in, I think, the world, and I am discovering it across the freaking globe. (Can I open a Tampa franchise??) I started with two and when the people next to me at their first and asked for a carryout box, I just ordered some more. (As my pal Ashley would say, “Get it in me!”)

The café Pastéis de Belém looks small, but don’t be fooled. It is secretly massive, and has lots of rooms that you go through one to get to another, so you’re never really sure how many there are.

Random people keep thinking I’m speaking Portuguese when I’m forced to mumble some Portspañol. I’m doing a lot of vague smiling, then wandering away when it seems opportune.

I went into the Coach Museum (or carriages, depending on how you look at it), which was celebrating its 100th year. It was wild to see all the golden, ornate coaches and imagine being carted about town secreted inside one. On my way out of the museum, I passed a vending machine – a KitKat machine! Be still my heart! Nothing but varieties of Kit Kat bars! Who knew there *were* varieties of Kit Kat bars?!

I ducked into a gift shop to scope out the shot glass selection for my collection, and on the counter I see this very sketchy iced-tea jug with something other than iced tea inside. It has a hand-made sign taped to it: “Ginja. Com chocolate: 1€”. Thanks to the book I borrowed from Danielle, I knew that ginja was (quoting here) “Portuguese firewater”. I had no idea about the chocolate, but hey, you only live once, right? So I slid my euro across the counter and the lady pours me a shot of ginja into a chocolate cup. And when I say chocolate cup, I mean a teacup – with handle and all – made completely of chocolate! It was an alcochocoholic’s *dream*. (And yes, before I went back to Madrid, I had another one. How could I not?)

The next place I went to was the Porto de Lisboa, which had a fabulous view of the boats and the bridge. Next, I went to the Monumento des Descobertas, or Discoveries monument, where my English/Spanish ploy completely fell apart. No English, no Spanish, no French – she spoke German. I managed to stumble through a “Would you please take my photo here?” in my broken German, which punctured my self-confidence a bit and I stopped talking for a while. (German?? I should have studied more!)

An interesting quick about Lisbon is that the roadside vendors have all the indulgences – everything from ice cream to hard liquor. (I didn’t have either one, because as you’ll recall I was quite stuffed with pasteis and ginja at this point.) I saw a lot of free public roadside parking, although I also saw a guy running a hustle where he flagged cars into (free) open spots for tips/money.

Next, I went to the tower of Belém, which was very cool. It had a dungeon with bars, and barred “windows” in the ground floor above which I imagine you could drop in prisoners or food or snakes or whatever to the dungeon below. I climbed the skinny, winding staircase to the top of the tower and was rewarded with an awesome panorama of Lisbon.

I saw the giant cross on the hill known as the Cristo Rei (I assume “Christ the King”) and I learned that Portugal is roughly the size of Indiana.

I walked through the Museu de Marinha (Maritime Museum) which had every manner of model ship and maritime relic, and was therefore probably a much more complete museum than really necessary for my taste. (That’ll teach me to go into Maritime museums. Everything’s all maritime-y.)

Next I hoofed it 4 miles to El Corte Ingles, forgetting it would be closed because it was Sunday. I’m glad I walked it, though, because I passed all sorts of cool views, and a street filled with vendors and sidewalk artists. The Corte had an open movie theater, so I flashed my student ID and got to see War of the Worlds on the cheap. Before the movie (which was in English) there was a preview for the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, which was in Portuguese, so I didn’t understand a single word. I’ll be glad to see that one back home.

After the movie, I caught a taxi back to the Santa Apolonia railway station. Europe is big on roundabouts – most are two to four lanes wide. If you’re not a roundabout fan, don’t rent a car – take the metro or a taxi.

Tags: cathedrals, food, museums, random facts & history, travel tips, wine

El Escorial, Spain

This morning after breakfast I boarded the bus for El Escorial. I saw the oldest theater in Spain and the Monasterio de San Lorenzo. Here’s the quick and dirty regarding the monastery. Felipe II married his cousin, his aunt, his son’s girlfriend, and then his niece. (Sequentially, not all at once.) When the last of these died, he decided to build a monastery – a “palace for god and a cottage for me.” It took 21 years to build, which is lightning fast. How did he accomplish such a feat? It’s all about the money. Pay increased or decreased depending on how quickly or how slow construction progressed, and nobody got any money at all until the whole thing was completed. (Talk about your incentive program!)

The monastery has statues of the kings of the Old Testament. It also has a statue of Christ on the cross, which they had to “dress” with a piece of cloth, because he was sculpted naked and apparently women flocked to stare, rather than attend service.

Felipe II had a traveling chair because of his gout. A traveling chair is a contraption where he gets carried by inserting two poles through a set of holes and then hefted up on (someone else’s) shoulders. He could also put up the top and sides if it were cold or sunny.

His son died at age 31 with a record 16 girlfriends. He was the first playboy of Spain, and on whom the infamous Don Juan is probably based. (In case you didn’t know, it was social suicide for a woman to be with don Juan or any man, because the second you were no longer a virgin, you were “ruined” and would never marry.)

The mausoleum is called the Royal Pantheon and has kings on one side and queens on the other, except for one queen on the man side because she was very kingly, and one king on the female side because he was very… queenly.

There are large paintings of bible stories on the walls because most text was written in Latin and the average person could not read.

Next, we visited the Valley of the Fallen, which was very impressive. It is a huge monument carved out of rock by Franco’s prisoners to commemorate all those who died in the fierce, bloody – and recent – civil war.

Tonight I went to the train station and hopped aboard the night train with service to Portugal! Tomorrow is a free day from school, and I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to visit Lisbon.

The night train had four bunks, two on each side. I roomed with a grandmother, mother, and daughter from Portugal, all of whom were very nice and full of useful tips.

Tags: cathedrals, random facts & history, theatre & shows, trains

Madrid, Spain

Today, my class visited the Reina Sofia Museum of Modern Art. Danielle met Kristin and I there after class so we could wander around even more. This particular building was built in the 1700s to group all the hospitals together, and is only a quarter of the size it was intended to be. In the 1980s, it was converted into a modern art museum. 1881, the year of Picasso’s birth, was (arbitrarily) chosen as the start date for what constitutes modern art.

At first, the museum was not getting much traffic. So, against the death wishes of the painter himself, they removed Picasso’s Guernica from El Prado and put it in the Reina Sofia. That did the trick, and now the museum has a steady flow of visitors.

If you ever get a chance to see Guernica in person, you absolutely must do so. It is a huge painting – very loud, noisy, emotional. You won’t go away untouched.

The preceding room holds the sketches and paintings created while Picasso was brainstorming for Guernica. He was supposed to have painted directly on the wall of an exhibition and it’s a good thing he didn’t, because that building was destroyed. Had his canvas not been somewhat portable, we wouldn’t still have it today.

As usual, I can yammer on for pages regarding this painting… but I won’t (unless you special request it)

Tags: museums